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I will tell you what caught my eye, those Ikea kitchen cabinets. Yikes.

How do they figure these 3BRs will sell for $1M when Chelsea Park can't get $749k for an almost-identical product in a better location?

The building is gorgeous!

Eh, I don't know whether the kitchen cabinets are from IKEA, but IKEA does actually sell quality kitchen cabinets. So I'm puzzled at the "Yikes" comment.

Jimmy, hopes and dreams! The same thing powering our banking system right now.

Those wood panel thingies on the front should be nicknamed "Frank Nolans". They seem to appear on all of his developments lately.

Yet another development conceived in a different climate. While I like the location for its gritty hippness, I still think overpriced and wondered how they cut costs as completion neared and the market tanked.

condos yay!

i'll second the "yikes" on the cabinets. this will move if they lower the price by about 150~200k.

If they cut the price on the 3/3s by 200k, I'd be intrigued. But the location's just not there yet -- and with the economy in the toilet, gentrification will likely be on hold for a while.

apparently the top floor 2 bedrooms got multiple bids without having hit the MLS yet.

Meanwhile, #1 and #2 are very similar to #23 at Chelsea Park... except #23 at Chelsea started at $1.25 million and is only recently down to $949k.

Plus 480 14th just just "feels" superior. Better outdoor space, better layout and feel, and you don't have the whacky rack parking. Out of the gate it is at $999k they've got a much better chance of selling within 5% of asking.

A watered down version of 1020 Pine St. However, gentrification is clearly taking hold there. Economy or not, the South Beach Cafe around the corner is full - in spite, a neighbor tells me, of repeated price increases on its menu.

flaneur: Mission Beach Cafe.

Anyway, there's a Delfina Pizza going in there? This little subneighborhood is getting way too many pizza places. First there was Pauline's, then Little Star, then some new place across from Zeitgeist, and now Delfina?

I predict a shakeout in the pizza market.

Also: fantastic place to take your bike is next door. Box Dog.

i don't think gentrification can occur in places like mission or tenderloin. there are forces in place to keep the neighborhoods in their current shape. if two decades of booming economy didn't gentrify them, then what's going to.

Sweet...me have triplex 2 blocks away on 14th st. Me keep as rentals for now then sell as nice tic's when market turn around. This is a great hood, hipsters paradise. And in a few years, just when market improves, hipsters will be in the housing market.

These'll be great comps. Thanks frank!

These are nice looking places and definitely have a better feel (thought not as good a location) than Chelsea Park.

@Condoshopper, gentrification can and will happen in the Mission; of course it is a slow process. But most blocks west of Valencia are pretty well gentrified now as are many blocks between Valencia and Mission. East of Mission is still a mixed bag but that area is also changing.

Po Hill Jeff. Exactly where is the new Delfina's going?

When Kink.com went into the Armory it changed a lot. That pushed a lot of the drug dealers out. We left this neighborhood 3.5 years ago honestly thinking it was on a downward trend but then I see the incredible restaurant and cafe scene developing on Valencia between 13th and 16th and this development and the slightly older one across the street and think maybe we were wrong.

I still miss being able to walk to Rainbow. I don't miss the gangbangers shooting at each other, a lovely sight I got to personally experience from my window at 10pm one night right before we moved.

auden: I may have misinterpreted the original posting ("And yes, it was the Delfina Pizza that caught our eye"). Maybe this just refers to the original one on 18th?

[Editor's Note: We'll take the blame ("Grand Opening Party! Delfina Pizzas and Beverages will be served.") and no new location (other than at California and Fillmore) as far as we know.]

Eric in SF - so the porn pushers pushed out the dope pushers and made the neighborhood better. Ya gotta love San Francisco.

I think that area has reached its maximum appeal in terms of gentrification. Any more and it would be to much. It's a great area as is, though I bet they're too close to the projects for some SS readers to stomach. I wonder if they'll get those prices, and I'd love to hear what others think about that.

In terms of comps, there is another building that has 2 bedroom split level condos on that block - I think it's at 425 14th. Those apartments are kinda nice though the layout of the building there is a little funky.

There are also split level condos not too far away on Stephenson that are quite lovely, except that they're just a few feet from the Octavia Blvd off ramp.

lol @ gritty hippness

20 years ago I lived in a 2 BR $750/mo apartment on Brosnan St that faces directly onto the back of this new building (I can see it on Google maps). While Valencia Gardens has been redone and the drug dealers' gunfire may have slowed, you'll always be living 100 yards from public housing and have a stream of freeway bound traffic on your block every morning. Anyone who could afford these would probably be downgrading their neighborhood...

Don't think of Valencia Gardens as "public housing". This is a mixed income and elderly affordable housing project, managed by Mission Housing Development Corporation, one of the country's preeminent affordable housing providers. I know - I live across the street from another MHDC property - and its the best maintained building on the block, and absolutely no trouble. These developments are a far cry from the old, bad "public housing" (mis)managed by the SF Housing Authority, which were the housing of last resort for the clients of last resort. And Valencia Gardens was as bad as they come. I am not sure what the mix is at the new Valencia Gardens, although I believe 60 out of the 260 are elderly housing, the rest family housing. To get an idea of the household incomes required, look at the "Mosaica 601" website - they are essentially for the working poor, not the career unemployed welfare recipients with nothing to do except get in trouble. These projects get 100 applications for every available unit, so they can be picky. They have private management with little tolerance for bad behavior.

Valencia Gardens will slowly return to what the old one had become. I used to live across from these new Condos and there is no way that area will be going up up. It might look a little nicer, but very scary only 1 block away. 1 million for a 3 bedroom in this neighborhood is a joke. 800 isn't even rational.

I don't know about that, Tom. There are all sorts of studies, and even a few documentaries, about this sort of thing. Townhouses versus central courtyard monoliths is what I'm getting at. They can account for wildly divergent sort of behavior, and attract different types of people all together.

Tom - I want to agree with you because I'm on the market, but the vibe I get from Valencia Gardens is that it won't revert back to the old days even if the downturn becomes much more severe. I think anonn is right on this one. There are good people over there working hard at maintaining their community. I suspect that there will be buyers for the largest unit at $800k. All of the units are kinda nice. Some are a problem because you enter into a maze of bedrooms, and you have to go upstairs to get into the social areas. (This assumes one doesn't socialize in their bedroom). As others have noted, you can also tell that they started to economize on the fixtures once they saw that the RE bubble was about to burst.

The smaller units are hard to price. Currently they're asking $859,000 for 1134 sq ft, or about $757/sq ft. That seems too much. If they went down to $500/sq ft or $567k, they'd sell quickly. Generally I think these prices are about 30% over what the market will bear. They may pull the units and try to rent them, but then they'll have problems getting renters in - and eventually out.

There are a number of very nice properties in this area, including the one with the beautiful copper façade on the corner of Guerrero and a wonderfully maintained house at Guerrero & Duboce. Unfortunately the KFC/Taco Bell is a bit of an eyesore. The trick to gentrification is timing. Someone is going to buy these units at today's prices and get a nice return in 20 years.

Is that faux red brick (or whatever it is) on the fascade leftovers from The Palms?

Our best friends live at 15th/Church and the puffy jacket drug dealers own 15th between Mission and Valencia, even after the new Valencia Gardens opened. They came back with the development. =(

I was at the open house today. What many of you surmised is true, at least in my eyes.

First, the area is still evolving, I think in a good way. Valencia Gardens is only 1/2 block away, but it is night/day compared to what it used to be, and for the better. 15th St is still a little sketchy, but much improved. The worst of it is further east towards Mission, but that is a few blocks, and all downhill, which makes a huge difference.

The level of infrastructure going up in that area has been tremendous, from all the new restaurants (Conduit, Little Star, Mission Beach) to the great little boutique clothing shops. It's only going to get better, I think.

The building itself is kind of good and bad. The units have too much narrow/up-and-down living for my taste, which makes the square footage deceptive. (I mean, you have to have 2.5-3 baths because there are so many levels.) They definitely pinched on the quality of fixtures compared to many other new developments, as some pointed out. The bathrooms are just okay. Lots of boring white, no upscale tiles, no cabinets behind the mirrors, tiny shower stalls, etc. The kitchens also tend to be small, with cheaper looking cabinets.

Some nicer outdoor spaces, especially the roof for the views. Of course, you're staring right into your neighbor's space, as well. The views on the lower levels are okay, but in the back, you're just staring at concrete and old eyesores.

Again, my biggest disappointment was mainly the layouts, which made for small kitchens and weird living configurations.

They are renting out a couple of the units already. At least 6 are for sale. Will make nice homes for some.

All previously-listed units now pulled off and will be going the rental route.